1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for processing electronic mail messages. Still more particularly, the present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for filtering out unwanted electronic mail messages.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet, also referred to as an “internetwork”, is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving network (with packets if necessary). When capitalized, the term “Internet” refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of online public records may reduce operating costs. Further, the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a medium for commercial transactions.
The Internet also provides a medium for sending electronic mail messages between different users or recipients. These electronic mail messages are also referred to as email messages. With email messages, a user may send a message to one or more recipients almost instantaneously. The use of email messages for communications between different users has become widespread.
With the increasing use of email, some businesses and users use this medium for advertising and other types of solicitations. Often times, this type of email message is unwanted and is referred to as “spam”, which also is known as “unsolicited commercial email” (UCE), “unsolicited bulk email” (UBE), “gray mail”, and just plain “junk mail”. The term “spam” is both a noun (the email message) and a verb (to send it). Spam is often used to advertise products or to broadcast some political or social commentary.
Like viruses, spam has become a scourge on the Internet as hundreds of millions of unwanted messages are transmitted daily to almost every email recipient as well as to newsgroups. In response to spam, programs have been created to filter out this unwanted email. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) have added servers that have no other function than to filter out spam.
These servers include spam filters, which are software that diverts incoming spam. Spam filters also may be installed on a client machine in addition to on a mail server, in which case, the user never receives the spam in the first place. Spam filtering may be configured to trap messages based on a variety of criteria, including sender's email address, specific words in the subject or message body or by the type of attachment that accompanies the message.
Address lists of habitual spammers (blacklists) are maintained by various organizations, ISPs and individuals as well as lists of acceptable addresses (whitelists) that might be misconstrued as spam. Spam filters reject blacklisted messages and accept whitelisted ones. More sophisticated spam filters use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques that look for key words and attempt to decipher their meaning in sentences in order to more effectively analyze the content and not trash a real message.
Although these types of spam filters are useful, these computer implemented algorithms can only go so far in preventing spam from reaching users. Even with these types of filters, some email messages, containing spam, may still reach users. As a result, a user is required to analyze the contents of an email message to determine whether a particular message is unwanted. Even though a user may make such a determination in a few seconds or less with a hundred percent accuracy, having to review email messages for spam missed by filtering software may be time consuming and is undesirable. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for filtering out unwanted email messages.